The decision by Torey Krug that won the Bruins Game 2, and changed a series

Sunday

May 4, 2014 at 1:52 AMMay 5, 2014 at 6:43 PM

Krug, at the end of a shift that began in his defensive zone and went up and down the ice, didn't come off the ice for a line change

By Dan CagenDaily News staff

BOSTON — It was time for a kill strike.

Generally late in the third period of a tie game, Bruins coach Claude Julien wants his defensemen to keep their shifts short. Be smart and rested are tenets of the Bruins' way.

But Torey Krug had "just one of those feelings." The Bruins had surged back to a 3-3 tie with the Canadiens in Saturday's Game 2 of the second-round series, back-to-back goals in less than five minutes changing the score and the emotion of both teams. Dougie Hamilton wondered if the Canadiens were panicking.

So Krug, at the end of a shift that began in his defensive zone and went up and down the ice, didn't come off the ice for a line change. His defensive partner, Kevan Miller, did and was replaced by Zdeno Chara.

The Bruins were rushing the puck up the ice. They had the Habs back on their heels. Dougie Hamilton was ready to roll over the boards to replace Krug, but who would expect an offensive-minded guy like Krug to head to the bench?

"I like to play in that zone, it’s just one of those feelings, and you know, you stay out there," Krug said. "I think I was just up on the rush and then you move the puck, and you don’t want to leave when there’s an opportunity."

Chara swung the puck to Krug cutting down to the left circle. The left-hand shot is a demon from that spot — he tortured the Rangers in last year's playoffs and scored from there in Game 1 against Montreal. Canadiens defenseman Michael Bournival took away the shooting lane, so Krug sent a seam pass to Reilly Smith.

With 3:32 left, Smith hammered it home for the winning score in the Bruins' 5-3 victory.

Had Krug not stayed on the ice, the Bruins would not have scored. Hamilton is a right-hand shot and couldn't make that pass from the left side on his backhand. Although the Bruins had all the momentum, there's a good chance the game goes to overtime and any bounce of the puck could have sent the Canadiens home to Montreal with a 2-0 series lead.

Instead, Krug didn't make the change, and the Bruins are in a 1-1 series that looks like it could be a long one.

"It’s a really good play," Hamilton said of Krug's pass. "I think I knew it was coming too. He didn’t change and he wanted to stay out, so I knew he was going to do something, and I told [Andrej Meszaros] on the bench, 'Give it to Torey', so it’s obviously a really good play and a good finish by Smitty and just pretty happy after that."

Like last season, Krug has emerged as a scoring hero in the playoffs. He's second only to Patrice Bergeron with seven points in seven postseason games, two goals and five assists.

A player like that has earned the right to know when to stay on the ice for a bit longer to change a game and a series with some timely offense.

"Sometimes, a player, they maybe feel a little tired but they see there’s an outnumbered situation and an opportunity here to jump in, and I think that’s where Torey is good at seeing those kind of things," Julien said. "So he sees an opportunity to go and get an outnumbered situation, and so he takes that opportunity to make it happen. That’s just hockey instinct, in my mind."